AMES, Iowa -- An Iowa State University computer scientist provided the
software expertise that allowed researchers to piece together a draft of the
chimpanzee genome.

Xiaoqiu Huang, an Iowa State associate professor of computer science,
worked on the genome project for eight months with researchers from
Washington University in St. Louis. The project's findings were published
today in the journal Nature.

Scientists found that the human and chimpanzee genomes -- the complete
sequence of each species' genes -- differ by 1.23 percent in what
researchers call single-letter changes. Scientists believe the findings
will help them learn more about the genetic changes that make humans and
chimpanzees so different.

Huang said his role in the project was to develop and modify the computer
software that produced a draft genome assembly. The software uses parallel
computing techniques that simultaneously put 100 computers to work
assembling millions of short DNA pieces.

Huang's software has also been used to assemble the chicken genome.

He said his next project is to continue to refine his software for these
large assembly projects.

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Quick look

Xiaoqiu Huang's computer software used 100 computers working simultaneously to assemble a draft
of the chimpanzee genome.